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Text: Rom 3:19-28
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
Today is a feast and a celebration for two reasons. First of all, we celebrate the world’s newest Christian, little Melanie, who was born again by water and the Spirit and given the gift of eternal life!
Secondly, we celebrate our Lutheran tradition and heritage by calling to mind the restoration of the Gospel that began with the publication of an academic paper by a then-obscure college professor named Dr. Martin Luther, more than five centuries ago. For these two great events in history are connected, dear friends: October 31, 1517 and October 30, 2022.
And to see this connection, just imagine if we just witnessed this Holy Baptism, and then sent the Griffin family a bill. Maybe a thousand dollars would be a nice amount. After all, baptism delivers eternal life. What parents wouldn’t pay for it if we charged them? We could even charge a lot more, maybe put parents on a baptismal payment plan, and perhaps we could upgrade our humble building into a basilica, and the pastor could have a private jet.
Well, not to worry, Matthew and Jennifer. The bill has already been paid, by Jesus. And that is why we celebrate Reformation Day.
For in the 1500s, the hierarchy of the church in Rome wanted to build St. Peter’s Basilica. And building beautiful cathedrals is a worthy task. But they built it with borrowed money, and the bankers were keen to be repaid. So the church hierarchy came up with a hustle: to charge people money for that which Jesus already paid for: “not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.” The church gives away salvation for free, because Jesus earned it, and we receive it by grace through faith, as Scripture teaches us. But it is such a treasure that people who didn’t know better would pay any price the bishops wanted to charge. And they made a fortune!
But salvation is not for sale at any price, dear brothers and sisters. And anyone who charges money for it is a grifter and a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You find them still running the scam on late night TV – crooks and charlatans of every denomination.
But we Christians should not be fooled, dear friends. Because God’s Word has been written for us in the Bible. And we also celebrate the fact that in the 1500s, Dr. Luther and others translated the Scriptures into our own languages, so that all people could “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” the Word of God, and hear the authentic voice of the Good Shepherd.
Today’s festival liturgy is also a reminder of how the Word of God was brought to the people. For in those days, the church’s bureaucracy demanded the services be in Latin – which was not understood by ordinary people. Dr. Luther translated the Mass into German. Today’s service is an English translation of a special German Mass, a festival service in which the parts of the liturgy are sung as hymns – in the language of the people. We also celebrate the restoration of the sermon into the Mass – which had been removed when Masses were being said quickly because people were willing to pay for them.
Dear friends, we don’t give offerings to buy God’s favor. You already have that because of our Lord’s death on the cross. We give offerings out of love: to support our church and our pastors, to provide for mission work, disaster relief, support for the poor, and for the sake of education. We give because God first gave to us. Private jets and other hustles are not part of that. And neither can you buy a ticket to heaven.
It was a wondrous thing when ordinary Germans heard today’s reading from Romans for the first time. For it teaches the real faith. It begins with the Law: “So that every mouth might be stopped.” The Law removes our ability to justify ourselves, dear friends. The Ten Commandments teach us what St. Paul reiterates: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All have sinned. Even little Melanie is a “poor, miserable sinner,” who needs the saving waters of Holy Baptism. For it is there that she has received the gift of “redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” because we “are justified by His grace as a gift” – a gift “to be received in faith.”
Melanie received the gift, dear friends. And so have we. Gifts are freely received, not bought – although someone pays for gifts before they are given. Our Lord Jesus Christ ransomed Melanie by His very own blood – and we, the Holy Church have been given the task and the joy to proclaim this free gift to “all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And that is what we do to this day, dear friends!
Sometimes people will refer to the Reformation as a revolution. It was nothing of the sort. It was a restoration of the catholic faith of old, before the church became corrupt. There was a time when church fathers like St. Augustine taught – a thousand years before the Reformation – that salvation was by God’s free grace and could not be earned. The church father St. Jerome translated the Bible into the language of the people – which in those days was Latin. Church fathers like St. John Chrysostom taught that the truth was to be found in God’s Word, and not in the opinions of mortal men.
Contrary to popular belief, Luther didn’t start a new church and name it after himself. For there is only one holy Christian and apostolic church. The name ‘Lutheran’ was given to us as a slur. And so we bear the taunt with a little bit of swagger, knowing that we are teaching the ancient catholic faith in its biblical purity. In our Lutheran confessions, the name ‘Lutheran’ never appears. Instead, we describe our church and faith as both ‘Evangelical’ and ‘Catholic.’
And so it is that we are Catholic Christians with married priests, who have the Mass in our own language, who reject any bishop – even those that have the name ‘Lutheran’ – who teach contrary to the Bible. Our Divine Service teaches that we are born under the Law’s condemnation, and that we are saved by the blood of Christ – which we receive in Holy Communion. And we teach just as the ancient church that baptism saves us.
And it is also true that we are Evangelical Christians, though our pastors don’t have private jets and Rolex watches. We don’t lead pop music services in revamped stadiums. But we are the first Evangelicals – because we preach the Evangel, that is, the Gospel, the Good News. And the Good News is demonstrated and taught to all of us today in the person of little Melanie – for she has been saved by grace alone. She has received the free gift: “justified by faith apart from works of the law.” For even her faith is a gift, dear friends. Her faith was confessed by her parents and sponsors.
And while God’s grace is free, we all have an obligation toward Melanie. Her parents have the responsibility to feed and clothe her, to educate her, and to protect her from all harm. They carry out this duty not because God commands it, but they do so out of love. They are also responsible for her faith: to bring her to the services of the Lord’s house, where she will grow up hearing God’s Word. They are to live the holy faith, and instruct her in it. And her sponsors also share in that responsibility. And all of us, dear friends, are called upon to support our church so that the Lord’s baptized can hear God’s Word. And my joyful responsibility is to preach the Word, both Law and Gospel, to be faithful in that vocation for the sake of all of you, the dear people for whom Christ died – including little Melanie.
And so let us celebrate, dear friends! Let us rejoice in the gift of eternal life! Let us spurn the devil and hold the grave in contempt! Let us confess our Evangelical and Catholic faith by singing the words of Scripture in our liturgy week in and week out! Let us always remember and rejoice in our own baptisms, making the sign of the holy cross in remembrance of the great date in history when we were brought to the font, and in the greatest date in history, when our risen Lord Jesus redeemed us as a “propitiation by His blood to be received by faith” when He died for us. Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word.
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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